Time Attack Tactics

Time is usually not a factor in Doctor Who Legacy, but there are several levels where time plays a critical role: the Time Attack levels. The following tips might only provide a small amount of additional time, but during a Time Attack every second counts.

General tips

Skill Animation

Since patch 2.2 it is possible to turn off the skill cut-in animation (the animation that takes place when using a character power) in the settings menu.

Waiting Time

During the time the attack animation is played, start thinking about the combos to make next turn. When the animation is being played, barring enemy abilities, these are the gems to be dealt with next turn. The sooner gems stop moving the sooner the allies start to attack. It is possible to start moving gems as soon as the Next Wave appears on screen; there is no need to wait until all enemies appear on screen. The less time is used for waiting and moving gems, the more time can be saved.

Dealing with high defense, low HP enemies

When going up against enemies with high defense and low HP, such as Toclafanes, you need to use tactics that are normally not used.

Attributes choices

See also: Attributes Choices

For most levels ATK is the most important attribute to finish the level as fast as possible. However, when facing enemies with high defense, ATK becomes irrelevant. Most attacks will only do 1 damage; therefore it is preferable to have higher HP and Heal. With high HP, it is possible to stand up to stronger attacks without worry. Meanwhile a high Heal attribute reduces the amount of combos and hence the time needed to heal the team.

Avoid combos

Each combo/match adds time to the attack animation needed. Therefore it is better to make as few combos as possible, since they do not provide additional damage against high defense enemies. As a result it is better to have a team with fewer colors among characters, since each corresponding combo will trigger more attacks.

Note that combos made through newly spawned gems add additional time to your attack and should be avoided when possible. However this is sometimes unavoidable due to the element of luck. On the other hand the probability of having new gems spawned can be reduced by making fewer combos in the first place and completing combos near the top of the gem board. This is due to the fact that a completed combo near the top will not move the other gems at the bottom half of the gem board, hence reducing the probability of completing additional combos as a result of falling gems.

Avoid damage-increasing perks

Any perks that increase damage (except enemy-dependent ones like weakness enhance) also take time to apply whenever you attack. Since damage-increasing perks will likely not increase the amount of damage actually dealt, it is better to avoid them against enemies with high defense.

Dual color characters

Each dual color character's secondary attack is counted as a separate attack, increasing the maximum number of attacks possible each turn. Note that without rank 5 or rank 6 characters it is impossible to perform more than 6 attacks per turn. 

No matches (using Bombs only)

One of the most useful abilities for saving time is bomb power, because bombs ignore enemies' defense. Bombs are especially useful for (Time Attack) Run and every single Toclafane level. While waiting for the bomb to detonate you can do small combos to load up Doctor ability if needed, or heal yourself. 

The best characters to combine with Bomb characters are stunners; if you stun an enemy and then use Bomb ability on it, you are basically untouchable.

Monocolour Team

See also: Teambuilding 

Having a monocolour team is a great advantage against High defense enemies because with one match of gem color of your team it is possible to kill High Defense enemies in a few turns.

Dealing with normal enemies

Excluding levels with Toclafanes, most of the Time Attacks contain normal enemies; dealing with them is significantly harder because you need to defeat them in the classic way.

Converters

When dealing with normal enemies in Time Attacks, having converters in your team is a good idea. The faster you get more gems of your colour, the faster you defeat the enemies and proceed to the next wave.

Combos

When dealing with normal enemies combos play a big role; the more combos you get the greater your damage. Try to sacrifice a few seconds to create a higher-damage attack.

Conclusions

Time Attacks are levels that have different strategies for different types of enemies. 

Against High Defense Enemies:

1. Match few short gem combos.
2. Avoid damage-increasing perks.
3. Try to use bombs.
4. Use Monocolour teams to attack with all characters with only one match.

​Against Normal Enemies:

1. Use convert characters to get more gems of your colour and attack faster.
2. Try to make high combos to kill enemies with high HP faster.
3. Use high ATK characters to deal more damage.